A conventional multiple-fold umbrella as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 comprises: a telescopic central shaft 1, and an umbrella rib means 2 pivotally mounted to the central shaft 1 for securing an umbrella cloth 3 on the rib means 2, including at least a top rib 21 pivotally connected between an upper notch 11 formed on a top end of the shaft 1 and an intermediate rib 24, a stretcher rib 22 having its inner rib end 221 pivotally secured to a lower runner 23 slidably held on the central shaft 1 and retained on a spring catch 12 of the central shaft 1 when opening the umbrella as shown in FIG. 1 and having an outer rib end 222 of the stretcher rib 22 pivotally connected with the top rib 21, an auxiliary stretcher rod 25 having its inner rod end 251 pivotally secured to the inner rib end 221 of the stretcher rib 22 and having an outer rod end 252 slidably engageable with a longitudinal groove recessed in the intermediate rib 24, an outer rib 27 pivotally secured to an outer end of the intermediate rib 24, and a linking rod 28 generally parallel to the intermediate rib 24 and pivotally connecting the top rib 21 and the outer rib 27.
When folding the umbrella from FIG. 1 to FIG. 2, the catch 12 is depressed inwardly and the runner 23 is lowered along the central shaft 1 to retract the rib means 2 inwardly in order to reduce a volume of the umbrella for convenient carrying purpose. However, since the lower runner 23 can only move a small stroke "S" on the shaft 1 from an opened umbrella (FIG. 1) to a closed umbrella (FIG. 2), both the auxiliary stretcher rib 25 as pivotally secured to the top rib 21 and the intermediate rib 24 as slidably engageable with the auxiliary stretcher rib 25 are still horizontally positioned as shown in FIG. 2, and are not centralized or greatly folded towards the central shaft, thereby still occupying a big space by the umbrella ribs 2 and cloth 3 and influencing a compact appearance of the multiple-fold umbrella.